Before Madrid fell, he was trying to secure some political rights for those fighting against Franco. General Franco entered Madrid. Besteiro was arrested and died in prison.
(1870-1939) Spanish politician. He played an important role in the civil war. He was born in Madrid. He was a professor of philosophy and dean. He was a member of the city council. He worked within the Socialist Party. He was the chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions (Union General de Tarabajadores) affiliated with the Socialist Party. He entered the Cortes (Spanish Assembly) in 1918 and remained in the assembly until the Primo de Rivera coup in 1923. In 1931, after the acceptance of the republic, he was elected president of the Constituent Assembly, which was formed for the preparation of the constitution. He was not able to participate in the discussions because he was the president. But it was known that he was against the harsh criticism and attacks directed at the church and the schools affiliated with the church in the name of secularism.
Julián Besteiro Fernández (21 September 1870 – 27 September 1940) was a Spanish socialist politician, elected to the Cortes Generales and in 1931 as Speaker of the Constituent Cortes of the Spanish Republic. He also was elected several times to the town council of Madrid. During the same period, he was a university professor of philosophy and logic and dean of the department at the University of Madrid.
In October 1931, the Socialist Party formed a government with the Left Republicans. In 1933, the coalition parties lost the elections and a conservative government took power. Besteiro was elected president of the Cortes in 1933. He described the shift to the left led by Largo Caballero within the party as a political disaster.
He voted negatively in the debates within the Socialist Party about holding a general strike on October 14, 1934, and launching the socialist revolution. In February 1936, the Popular Front came to power. Civil war broke out in July with the attack of Francisco Franco. At the beginning of 1937, Besteiro, who had been ill for a long time, was asked to be given the Argentine embassy. Besteiro preferred to stay in Madrid and dealt with the problems of immigrants.
Although he went to London in May 1937 to gain the support of England, his attempts did not yield any results. Upon the fall of Catalonia in February 1939, a military coup led by Colonel Casado removed Negrin as prime minister. Besteiro became interior minister in the junta government.
In March 1939, the Casado government began to seek ways to compromise with Franco's forces. In a speech on Besteiro Madrid radio, he said that they wanted to make an "honorable peace". Before Madrid fell, it was trying to secure some political rights for those fighting against Franco. On April 1, General Franco entered Madrid. Besteiro was arrested and died in Carmona prison.
Besteiro thought that the republic in Spain was established prematurely. According to him, a liberal and tolerant culture had not settled among the masses. Labor unions failed to produce politically educated workers with management experience. Therefore, Spain was not ready for a republic.